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On a cool afternoon in September 2008, I stepped out of my car into the parking lot of a small business office. I breathed in the fresh autumn air, gathered my courage and found the others — a chaplain, a social worker the company commander and a senior officer from the post hospital. Solemnly we walked into the building and asked to speak privately with the young wife of a United States Army first sergeant who had recently returned from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The moment she spotted us, she knew why we were there, and she burst into tears. “No!” she cried. “No! I cannot do this,” she said, her head in her hands and her knees buckling. A work colleague caught her and eased her into a chair.

The hours and days that followed echoed with that young woman's voice asking again and again, “Why?” as all of us struggled to discover any tiny shred of an answer.

Why? Why does a 33-year-old decorated war veteran, a devoted husband and father of two young girls, a role model for countless soldiers, the star of his family and a survivor of 15 months deployed to a war zone die by his own hand only months after returning home? There seemed to be no answer, certainly not one that could ever satisfy his wife's aching need to understand or that would ease his daughters' curiosity about what life would have been like had their father still been alive when they graduated from high school, got married and had children of their own.

And so that question haunts so many hearts who have loved soldiers and who have stood to watch their nation's flag folded neatly, “Taps” sounding in the distance, their grief multiplied by the inconceivable thought that this man or woman who was so loved and who had served others so selflessly could have experienced enough despair to choose death over life.

Today, despite having an Army that is involved in active combat operations, more soldiers die by their own hands than on the battlefield. The numbers have been steadily rising, each year breaking the record of the previous year, until in 2012 there has been nearly one soldier suicide for every day of the year.

Not only does this cause anguish for the families of those lost to suicide, but also for the larger Army family as a whole. Brothers and sisters in arms are devastated by these losses that create holes in the tightly-woven fabric of the military.

But there is hope for the future. All of the military services are devoting increased attention and resources to combating suicide and to addressing the behavioral health needs of service members and their families. The ranks of behavioral health providers have been reinforced. Commanders at all levels are being trained to anticipate circumstances that may be challenging for soldiers and to recognize signs of distress, changes in behavior and other red flags that may indicate a service member is in danger.

Service members themselves are also being taught to intervene when their battle buddies show signs of struggling. As they do on the battlefield, soldiers are standing shoulder-to-shoulder to form a united front against this insidious threat to the integrity of the force.

And it works — lives have been saved when a leader or fellow service member has cared enough to ask if a buddy is considering suicide and taken the time to stand with him until help is obtained.

In September, the entire United States Army ceased operations for one duty day in observance of a Suicide Prevention Stand Down to further emphasize the importance of these efforts and to strengthen the ability of the force to heal itself from within. It is a small but vitally important part of the crucial effort to preserve the strength of those who preserve freedom and the American way of life.

Army Maj. Theresa McKay is a Brooke Army Medical Center staff psychiatrist.